About me

This blogname was derived from the novel The Secret Life Of Saeed The Pessoptimist by the Palestinian Israeli Emile Habiby: absurdism as weapon against the (ir)realities of daily life in Palestine/Israel. (The subtitle is from a book by Dutch author Renate Rubinstein. It could as well be my motto).
My real name is Martin (Maarten Jan) Hijmans. I've been covering the ME since 1977 and have been a correspondent in Cairo. I started my 'Abu Pessoptimist' blog in January 2009 out of anger during the onslaught in Gaza. The other one, The Pessoptmist, is meant to be a sister version in English. (En voor de Nederlandstaligen: ik wilde in november 2009 een tweede blog in het Engels beginnen en ontdekte te laat dat als je één account hebt, een profiel dan meteen ook voor allebei de blogs geldt. Vandaar dat het nu ineens in het Engels is... So sorry.)

Friday, August 2, 2013

Morsi supporters defiant after government warning that protest camps will be removed

Supporters of the deposed Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi remain defiant in spite of a warning by the government that it is ready to take action to finish off their protest camps in Cairo. The government took this decion on Wednesday and the Interior Ministery promised protesters on Thursday a safe exit if they leave
the Cairo and Giza sit-ins “quickly.”

In a statement, the ministry urged
them "to rethink their positions and listen to the country's best
interests. They must leave quickly and clear the sit-ins." The ministry said it was “committed to providing a safe exit and full
protection for all who listen to the call and leave the sit-in for the
sake of the country's stability."

However the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom
and Justice Party, and the Anti-Coup Pro-democracy Alliance – led by the
Brotherhood – responded to the interior ministry's warning in a declaration that

'' they do not recognize the coup government or its decisions or
negotiations.'' The alliance said that the demonstrations '' will continue in spite of threats'' and ''will not give up its right to protest peacefully.'' .The statement added that "the Alliance affirms that the Egyptian people
will remain steadfast in their revolution against the coup, which has
brought back the police state in its worst incarnations."

Confrontations between Morsi's supporters and the police
near their sit-in at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in in Nasr City led to
over 80 deaths and hundreds of injuries on Saturday. Earlier Morsi's supporters suffered at least 50 dead at the headquarters of the Republican Guard, when the military personnel opened fire at them after claiming they were attacked.

Millions of Egyptians took to the streets on 26 July after army chief
Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi – the leader behind the 3 July military
intervention – called the Egyptians to come to the streets and protest against "violence and terrorism", by which he meant the resistance by the Morsi supporters.